Proliferation of smooth muscle cells of the arterial wall in response to local injury is an important aetiologic factor of vascular proliferative disorders such as atherosclerosis and restenosis after angioplasty. The incidence of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has been reported to be as high as 45% within three to six months after PTCA treatment (Indolfi et al., Nature medicine, 1, 541-545 (1995)). Hence, compounds that inhibit smooth muscle cell proliferation can be very useful to prevent or treat vascular proliferative disorders such as atherosclerosis and restenosis.
Heparin is a well known compound to inhibit proliferation of smooth muscle cells after coronary angioplasty (Buchwald et al., J. Cardiovasc. Pharmacol., 28, 481-487 (1996)).
In our co-pending application PCT/EP96/04515, published on 19 Jun. 1997 as WO-97/21701, the compounds of formula (I), their preparation and compositions containing them are disclosed as famesyl transferase inhibitors useful for the treatment of ras dependent tumors.